Secular Students: The Round Earth Society for Atheists

[Admin]

Atheists deserve a voice: yours!

The Secular Student Alliance would like to help you start an atheist/humanist/skeptic group at California State Polytechnic University - Pomona. Our staff and volunteers have years of experience with starting and running campus groups and are happy to offer our advice and resources to you. We can provde you with books, magazines, speakers, group running manuals, connections to local and national freethought groups, and a whole lot more. Even if you don't want to start a group, we would be delighted to get in touch with you and connect you to the larger movement.




The Round Earth Society
Atheists
We finally have a club for you!
The Round Earth Society promotes science, reason, logic, and freethought on campus.

Come meet up with other open-minded people and join us for our first meeting Tuesday, January 11 of second week at noon. We will have free pizza and soda.
Website is roundearth.org or e-mail Misha at jagguar@myway.com

[zoedragon]

A group full of Stevens!

I'm trying to imaging such a group sending representatives around campus to challenge the roaming representatives of religious groups. No doubt the debates would be quite lively. They'd probably get many more listeners that way than trying to ambush people individually.

[JPWRana]

a group for atheists?!?!? seriously... don't ppl have finals 2 study for or work to go to?

[Puffguts]

Originally Posted by JPWRana

a group for atheists?!?!? seriously... don't ppl have finals 2 study for or work to go to?

Same can be said for all other religion groups.

Interesting group, I am somewhat interested in checking it out.

[zoedragon]

Originally Posted by JPWRana

a group for atheists?!?!? seriously... don't ppl have finals 2 study for or work to go to?

So according to you it's okay for a group of people with similar interests to congregate only if their interests meet your approval?

[Admin]

The Secular Students or the Round Earth Society will be an interesting organization indeed. I did get in touch with the organizer via e-mail and they have experience and the resource to support the secular student club.
Misha will be the presider of the organization and January will be official commencement of the organization. I will check it out once myself and bring you guys the 411.

[JPWRana]

we'll... if those ppl already don't believe in god... then leave it @ that... i dont want them 2 start imposing evolution on me.

[PandaMoOo]

Originally Posted by JPWRana

we'll... if those ppl already don't believe in god... then leave it @ that... i dont want them 2 start imposing evolution on me.

I think this group is more of a counter measure, to what the religious folk are doing to the athiests. Look at your very own comment, it seems you want to be let alone alone unchallenged on your religious beliefs, don't you think maybe others want to be too? Why can christians try to convert people, and why do you not want athiests to do it?

If you ask me, although I dislike be challenged on my religious views (Athiest) I am damn willing to listen to anyone who provides some new information rather then the old boring rhetoric. Only through good dialogue and conversation can we reach a greater understanding, although it may be difficult, I know its for the greater good as me as a person and for our society.

What pisses me off is when people are so close minded they ignore good dialogue and evidence because it makes them uncomfortable, stuff like this ruins our society, our democracy and our great country.

[Puffguts]

Regarding evolution, I believe it is an entirely different matter for it to be imposed on anyone.

If evolution is a Buddhism doctrine and we are learning it in the text book, then I can agree that it is being imposed on the people. However it is coming from the "neutral" parties - the scientific community. Thus to me it is more in line with people teaching me the inhertia theory or the general relativity than a religious doctrine.

In my physics class, a student who was very sure that Einstein was wrong and the general relativity is incorrect, and she used it as an argument to support her not answering the G.R. theory problem on the test that accounted for 20% of the points (reason: if I don't believe that is true, then you are imposing the idea on me, which I have the right NOT to learn). The professor then told her by enrolling in the class, she already agrees with a basic agreement: the test will be used to check how much teaching material she remembers from the lecture, instead of in total agreement.

I am not a Christian, yet I read the bible as it is a very interesting historical and literature work. I have several volumes of books on Buddhism and enjoy reading some of the ideas they have on world view. Learning an idea doesn't mean I have to totally agree with it. If people agree with everything that they are taught, then the world would be a very dangerous place.

[xiaoxue]

shameful that our faculty are so dogmatic at a place that is supposed to be open to all ideas and thought. i am told the poly sci dept is so extreme to the left that any conservative thought is deemed stupid. hard to imagine this also is so in college of "science" of all places!

of course there are many people who read the book of books who are not in the faith, and that's totally cool. not to mention lots of history anybody can get tons of information about how to handle daily life, too. thanks, puffguts!

Originally Posted by Puffguts

Regarding evolution, I believe it is an entirely different matter for it to be imposed on anyone.

If evolution is a Buddhism doctrine and we are learning it in the text book, then I can agree that it is being imposed on the people. However it is coming from the "neutral" parties - the scientific community. Thus to me it is more in line with people teaching me the inhertia theory or the general relativity than a religious doctrine.

In my physics class, a student who was very sure that Einstein was wrong and the general relativity is incorrect, and she used it as an argument to support her not answering the G.R. theory problem on the test that accounted for 20% of the points (reason: if I don't believe that is true, then you are imposing the idea on me, which I have the right NOT to learn). The professor then told her by enrolling in the class, she already agrees with a basic agreement: the test will be used to check how much teaching material she remembers from the lecture, instead of in total agreement.

I am not a Christian, yet I read the bible as it is a very interesting historical and literature work. I have several volumes of books on Buddhism and enjoy reading some of the ideas they have on world view. Learning an idea doesn't mean I have to totally agree with it. If people agree with everything that they are taught, then the world would be a very dangerous place.

[Admin]

I wanted to share this with you all, whether it belongs here or not.

Originally Posted by Friend Xanga Entry

An atheist professor of philosophy speaks to his class on the problem science has with God, The Almighty.

He asks one of his new Christian students to stand.....

Professor: You are a Christian, aren't you, son?

Student: Yes, sir.

Professor: So you believe in God?

Student: Absolutely, sir.

Professor: Is God good?

Student: Sure.

Professor: Is God all-powerful?

Student: Yes.

Professor: My brother died of cancer even though he prayed to God to heal him. Most of us would attempt to help others who are ill. But God didn't. How is this God good then? Hmm?

(Student is silent.)

Professor: You can't answer, can you? Let's start again, young fella. Is God good?

Student:Yes.

Professor: Is Satan good?

Student: No.

Professor: Where does Satan come from?

Student: From...God...

Professor: That's right. Tell me son, is there evil in this world?

Student: Yes.

Professor: Evil is everywhere, isn't it? And God did make everything. Correct?

Student: Yes.

Professor: So who created evil?

(Student does not answer.)

Professor: Is there sickness? Immorality? Hatred? Ugliness? All these terrible things exist in the world, don't they?

Student:Yes, sir.

Professor: So, who created them?

(Student has no answer.)

Professor: Science says you have 5 senses you use to identify and observe the world around you. Tell me, son...Have you ever seen God?

Student: No, sir.

Professor: Tell us if you have ever heard your God?

Student: No , sir.

Professor: Have you ever felt your God, tasted your God, smelt your God? Have you ever had any sensory perception of God for that matter?

Student: No, sir. I'm afraid I haven't.

Professor: Yet you still believe in Him?

Student: Yes.

Professor: According to empirical, testable, demonstrable protocol, science says your GOD doesn't exist. What do you say to that, son?

Student: Nothing. I only have my faith.

Professor: Yes. Faith. And that is the problem science has.

Student: Professor, is there such a thing as heat?

Professor: Yes.

Student: And is there such a thing as cold?

Professor: Yes.

Student: No sir. There isn't.

The lecture theatre becomes very quiet with this turn of events.)

Student: Sir, you can have lots of heat, even more heat, superheat, mega heat, white heat, a little heat or no heat. But we don't have anything called cold. We can hit 458 degrees below zero which is no heat, but we can't go any further after that. There is no such thing as cold. Cold is only a word we use to describe the absence of heat. We cannot measure cold. Heat is energy. Cold is not the opposite of heat, sir, just the absence of it.

(There is pin-drop silence in the lecture theatre.)

Student: What about darkness, Professor? Is there such a thing as darkness?

Professor: Yes. What is night if there isn't darkness?

Student: You're wrong again, sir. Darkness is the absence of something. You can have low light, normal light, bright light, flashing light....But if you have no light constantly, you have nothing and it's called darkness, isn't it? In reality, darkness isn't. If it were you would be able to make darkness darker, wouldn't you?

Professor: So what is the point you are making, young man?

Student: Sir, my point is your philosophical premise is flawed.

Professor: Flawed? Can you explain how?

Student: Sir, you are working on the premise of duality. You argue there is life and then there is death, a good God and a bad God. You are viewing the concept of God as something finite, something we can measure. Sir, science can't even explain a thought. It uses electricity and magnetism, but has never seen, much less fully understood either one. To view death as the opposite of life is to be ignorant of the fact that death cannot exist as a substantive thing. Death is not the opposite of life: just the absence of it. Now tell me, Professor. Do you teach your students that they evolved from a monkey?

Professor: If you are referring to the natural evolutionary process, yes, of course, I do.

Student: Have you ever observed evolution with your own eyes, sir?

(The Professor shakes his head with a smile, beginning to realize where the argument is going.)

Student: Since no one has ever observed the process of evolution at work and cannot even prove that this process is an on-going endeavour, are you not teaching your opinion, sir? Are you not a scientist but a preacher?

(The class is in uproar.)

Student: Is there anyone in the class who has ever seen the Professor's brain?

(The class breaks out into laughter.)

Student: Is there anyone here who has ever heard the Professor's brain, felt it, touched or smelt it?.....No one appears to have done so. So, according to the established rules of empirical, stable, demonstrable protocol, science says that you have no brain, sir. With all due respect, sir, how do we then trust your lectures, sir? (The room is silent. The professor stares at the student, his face unfathomable.)

Professor: I guess you'll have to take them on faith, son.

Student: That is it sir.. The link between man & God is FAITH. That is all that keeps things moving & alive

[Steven]

Originally Posted by KayCee

I wanted to share this with you all, whether it belongs here or not.

I have already read something just like what you posted. It involved the same discussion but the people involved were a professor and young Einstein. I think whoever you copied the post from just modified it.

If it is supposed to be a rational argument for belief in God, it is fallacious. The student claims that there is no cold because it is the "absence of heat". That is false. Heat is not a thing. Heat is a way energy is transfered. It is not a form of energy.

His claim that there is no cold because it is the absense of "heat" is also false. If it were true one could just as easily say that there is no "heat" because it is just the absense of nonmoving molecules.

The story is obviously fake because the professor is said to teach that humans evolved from monkeys. That doesn't make sense at all. Humans and monkeys are branches of a common ancestor, but humans did not evolve from monkeys.

As for evolution, we do see it. We see it in the lab, in nature, and in the fossil record.

[Airencracken]

I've thought about joining/starting a secular club, but I just don't care that much, although there should be a organization protecting secular student's concerns. I would like to do outreach though...

Me: Excuse me have you thought about renouncing your religion?
Student: What?
Me: Here please take this educational pamphlet on the non-existance of god.
Student: Okay?....

[zoedragon]

LOL I think you'd get higher circulation of those pamphlets just because the students you approached would be too perplexed to say no.

[jayandbutton]

KC,
LOL!!!!

Originally Posted by KayCee

I wanted to share this with you all, whether it belongs here or not.